Feliciano Lopez has reached the quarter-finals of the US Open for the first time after beating Fabio Fognini.

The 18th seed looked to dominate on his serve in the opening set as Fognini struggled with his return.

Lopez opened up a 3-1 lead after the 32nd seed missed with a forehand smash and was able to see out the opening set.

Fognini then broke in game four of the second set as the Italian finally appeared to get to grips with the Spaniard's serve.

However, after asking the umpire for a stronger physio to treat a back problem between games, Fognini gave away his advantage when he sent a forehand volley long.

The Italian found himself in trouble with the umpire when he was given a code violation for apparently hitting a spectator with a ball.

Fognini was able to force a tie-break, but an unforced error saw Lopez move two sets up.

Fognini lost his serve early on in the third set to an unforced error before a double fault gave Lopez a double break at 5-1.

The Spaniard wrapped up victory with ease to set up a last-eight encounter with either world number one Novak Djokovic or Roberto Bautista Agut.